THE COMING OF ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20288, 22 June 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE COMING OF ART.

ORIGIN AND GROWTH.;

/■ 1 BY M. HUTI'ON WHITEIiAW

Many, many thousands of years ago, when hugo reptiles and amphibians thronged tho earth, and great savage anthropomorphous apes inhabited the massive trees or sheltered in the fevered mimosa that cluug in heavy festoons about them, two figures, a male and a female — almost as shaggy and as savage-looking as the groat apes in the background—were to be seen, seated on the sandy strip of beach beside tho boundless ocean. The clumsy advances of tho malo's courting were tliu one moment coquettishly repelled by tho female, the next eagerly reciprocated.

Several months passed, and one day tho male was to be seen wandering alono along tho golden sandy shore, for the girl-woman, his mato to bo, was dead; disconsolately he paused, and his eyes fell on a curious imprint in tho sand; puzzled, he gazed until in the dim recess of his almost non-existent brain there crept tho memory of bygone careless days on this same beach. Ho dropped on his knees and began to run a short thick set finger around tho outline; filled with a longing to retain the memory of his lost mato, he made several attempts to copy the rough outline of that imprint; every day for many years he did this, recalling always the presence of the girlwoman.

Such is said to be the origin of art, and from this ancient story of a primitive man's love has grown tho romance and beauty which ever surrounds tho realm of all art. l Emotional Expression.

No matter what branch of art is taken —music, literature, painting, sculpture, dancing—it is the definite outward form by which is expressed the multitude of thoughts latent in the brain. All these arts spring from one common source, and all emphasise the same thine, though in different forms, which appeals to the imagination through the senses of sight and hearing—that of emotional expression; for emotion is the origin of all artistic appreciation. Because of this basis, art is very personal in its outward aspect—and herein lies the explanation of the wide diversity or distinctive classification of the works of great artists, applicable not only to painting and literature, but al,so to music, architecture, and dancing. It may be the delicately graceful movements of Pavlova; the exquisite bruslnvork of Millais, Leighton, or Raphael; the haunting melody of a master musician; the sublime creation of au architectural work; the mystic literary genius of some great mind captivating the soul; the impassioned interpretation and intense declamation of an actor. Or there is .seen a sunset of surpassing beauty and richness of colour, bathing the countrysido in merging rays of radiant light: the artist catches the ethereal rainbow tints and transfers them to his canvas; the poet breaks forth in a magical song of descriptive verse; from his piano the musician draws a celestial harmony of inspired tranquillity and beauty in the myriad glowing tints. But, whatever the outward sphere, it is this hidden power and inward emotional sensation that exercises so stupendous an influence on the mind and so irresistible an appeal to the human soul. It may be the crude labours of some primitive man, or the perfect creation of a master mind, but it is the impelling force behind the workmanship that is the primeval factor. Primitive Art. Artistic expression is not by any means confined to civilised peoples onlv. It is perhaps a peculiar thing that while man has progressed comparatively fast in tho scale of civilisation (becoming a distinct sub-species of the animal kingdom in paleolithic times and making rapid strides after tho " great ice age "), yet, until ages long after, there is no record of any man being famed as an artist either in the fields of music, painting or sculpture. That pigments and their basic secrets were known some thousands of years ago is evidenced by the use of body paint by the early cavemen, while traces of rudely executed drawings have been discovered on the walls of their anciont dwellings. But with the advent of the Renaissance tho activity of art received the greatest stimulus ever offered it before or since. We aro familial with the beauty of Maori art and its intrinsic delicacy of detail, and with tho plaintive melody of Maori song; the mystical and fascinating power of beauty reflected in the patient work of the warlike Turk and Persian; tho exquisite productions of Chinese pottery—as exemplified in the handicrafts of the Ming Dynasty; the supreme creations of Egyptian architecture, and those remnants of earlier empires, such as tho Assyrian. But in no country has painting risen so suddenly into eminenco as in England. While poetry took free and unencumbered wing in early times, followed shortly by music, their sister art was centuries in throwing off tho fetters of mere mechanical skill and rising into the regions of genius. Although carving and sculpture were given an eminence of place in pre-Tudor times, painting seems to have been almost ignored, except for bizarre attempts in tho depicting of various beatific figures, which exhibited anything but delicacy of colour, skilful portrayal, or touch of genius,

The English Renaissance. The middlo years of the 19th. century have often been designated the " English Renaissance of Art," wherein Constable. Ilolman Hunt, Turner, Landseer and Loighton were among the greatest painters of that time; while many were the names that illuminated poetry—Tennyson, the Rossettis, the Brownings, Swinburne. Arnold; in the realm of music tho immortal partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan, and the works of Vaughan Williams. Dame Ethel Smyth, Thomas; among the architects, Sir Gilbert Scott and Waterhouse.

Before tho birth of William Hogarth (at the end of tho 17tli century) England had been peculiarly destitute in the possession of any famous native-born painters, although from the Tudor reign onward tho Court had from time to time given patronage to foreign artists. Then, in quick succession to Hogarth—who, utilising a vividness of imagination combined with a spirit of observation, stands out as tho greatest pictorial satirist in the history of English art—followed Richard Wilson, one of the chief progenitors of landscape painting; the courtly Sir Joshua Reynolds, tho first of the great colourists; Gainsborough, occupying with Reynolds the highest rank among the portrait-painters of those times: and William Blako, tho visionary poetpainter, equally at homo in depicting delicate scenes in verse as on canvas. As the arts are the natural offspring of the heart of man, so it is they can never be wholly lost oven among the most disastrous changes. The toregue of poetry and the echo of music may be occasionally silent, and the hand of painting may be sometimes stayed. But not for long; there will, always .arise someone to add further glory to the illustrious names already prominent in the realms of tho various acts, for A tiling.of beautv ia a joy forever; its loveliress increases; It will never fade into nothingmesß.